Native American Hardships

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Since Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean in 1492, Native Americans have suffered at the hands of foreign invaders. Sometimes it was overt oppression (Spain would force Natives to “submit to spanish authority”) while other times, it was more subtle, such as when their children went to boarding schools for “better education” (Hurtado et. al. 63, ). Whatever the method, Native Peoples would continue to experience hardship even into the present day. 1492-1500s Native Americans were often regarded with the same critical eye with which livestock might be appraised and as peoples to be subjugated. Columbus would describe the Caribs as “very well built, with very handsome bodies and good faces[,]...hair...coarse almost like the hairs on …show more content…

Although the French and Indian War was largely a Anglo-French dispute, Native Peoples were forced to take sides (167). However, Delaware Indians argued that “the land [was theirs], and not [the French’s]; therefore,...[they would] send the French home” (169). Additionally, they charged the French with starting the war and pointed out that they had superior war practices: “when we take any prisoner from you, we treat them as our own children...and...we clothe them…, though...our children are as naked as at the first. By this you may see that our hearts are better than yours” (169). Towards the end of eighteenth century, the United States would issue the first of several legal documents concerning the Native Americans (246). The Northwest Ordinance, Article III, asserted that “the utmost good faith shall always be observed toward the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and, in their property, rights, and liberty, they never shall be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress; but laws founded in justice and humanity shall, from time to time, be made, for preventing wrongs being done to them and for preserving peace and friendship with them”

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